Volume pricing with flat fee

Concepts

Volume pricing with flat fee is a hybrid model that applies a specific fixed cost and a single unit rate to a customer's total consumption. Unlike tiered models where you pay through multiple brackets, this model identifies the highest threshold reached and applies that tier's specific fee structure to the entire bill.

The logic of dimensions

Volume pricing with flat fee is a 1-dimensional model. It depends on one factor: Quantity ().

Think of this as "The membership club." You "level up" to a new club tier based on your total volume of business. Each club tier has its own membership dues (the flat fee) and its own discounted price for goods (the unit rate). You do not pay the dues for the lower clubs; you only pay the dues and the rate associated with the specific club tier you have unlocked for that month.

SaaS example: Cloud log storage

A monitoring platform charges a platform fee and a storage rate based on the total volume of logs stored. As the customer stores more data, they move into higher tiers with different flat fees and unit rates.

The "Membership club" calculation: If a customer stores 1,500 GB, they have "leveled up" into the second tier. Zenskar applies the flat fee and unit rate for that specific tier to the total volume.

Get started

Create a volume with flat fee product

Building the reusable blueprint in your product library.

1. Navigate to the Library: Go to Contracts > Products.
2. Create a Standalone Product: Click + CREATE NEW and choose Standalone Product from the dropdown. The Create Standalone Product page will appear. Fill in the required details and click Save & Proceed at the bottom right.
3. Open Price Details: You will be redirected to the Price Details page. Click + Add Price to configure pricing for the product.
4. Select Volume pricing with flat fee Pricing Model: In the Pricing Model dropdown, select Volume Pricing with flat fee.
5. Configure Tiers and Save: Click + Add Tier to create pricing brackets. Define the from and to ranges, enter the price and flat fee for each tier. Continue adding tiers as needed. Once complete, click Save, then click Done on the Price Details page to finalize the setup.

How-to: Add volume with flat fee pricing to a contract

Applying the model to a specific customer agreement.

1. Via Contracts

1. Open the target contract in Contracts > Contracts.
2. In the Summary tab, click + ADD PRODUCT V3.
3. Search for and select your configured volume with flat fee product.
4. Review Brackets: Briefly confirm the price brackets match the customer's specific agreement.
5. Click ADD PRODUCT. You will be redirected to the Summary page. Click Publish.

2. Via Customer

1. Open the target customer in Customers.
2. Go to Contracts and click + CREATE CONTRACT.
3. In the Summary tab, click + ADD PRODUCT V3.
4. Search for and select your configured volume with flat fee product.
5. Click ADD PRODUCT. You will be redirected to the Summary page. Click Publish.

Reference

Technical specifications

System architecture

In Zenskar, all pricing models are governed by a hierarchical relationship between entities:

• Contract: The legal agreement between you and your customer.
• Phase: A specific time-bound period (e.g., Q1, implementation phase) within that contract.
• Product: The actual service or software module being sold.
• Pricing model: The specific logic (volume pricing with flat fee) that defines how that product is billed.

Entity hierarchy:

flowchart LR
    CONTRACT[Contract] ---|"has one or more"| PHASE[Phase]
    PHASE ---|"has one or more"| PRODUCT[Product]
    PRODUCT ---|"has exactly one active"| PRICINGMODEL[Pricing model]

style PRICINGMODEL fill:#90ee90

Price resolution flow

The following flow describes how volume pricing with flat fee calculates the final price:

1. Product library: Defines the global tiers, flat fees (c), and rates (r).
2. Contract: Links the product to a customer and defines the quantity source (q).
3. Data source: Provides the value of (either from a dynamic meter or static product field).
4. Billing engine: Maps the total to a single active tier (i) and resolves the total price P using that tier's specific constants.